10,000 Hours to Genius
They practiced their faces off to be great!
Parenting Styles
Your child may not have come with a handbook on how to be a good parent, but you can learn nevertheless. Many factors determine how you choose to parent. The best parenting, like everything else in life, is about balance.
Growing Great Writers
I firmly believe that anyone can be a good writer. Writing leads to clear thinking, and reading and writing feed each other. Don't give up on yourself or your child, or think that you don't have writing "talent." Just like anything else, writing is a craft that needs to be developed and practiced.
From At-Risk to OK
Constant, intense stimulation, pressure to do more and better, media and peer pressure, and life's everyday changes bombard kids from all directions. Living in atmospheres of poverty, crime and abuse puts additional enormous stress on families and children.
Steps to Adoption
Choosing to adopt is a major decision that can reap rewarding and unfathomable benefits of giving an orphaned child a place to call home.
Hard Decisions
If you are a child with aging parents, or a caring parent with foresight for your children, here are some of the documents that will help you deal with end of life decisions. As difficult as they may be to complete, they will be a comfort during times of high stress and crisis.
Co-housing Now
The decrease in the number of Americans participating in bowling leagues since 1950 is just one example of America's movement toward isolated communities. Robert Putnam uses this example in the book "Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community" (Simon and Schuster, 2001, $10.99) to demonstrate that American's decline in social activity is detrimental to a strong democratic society.
Growing Herbs: Kid-Friendly Gardening
A handful of culinary herbs are easy to grow and useful in the kitchen—even for new gardeners with little space and for those (including kids) who are too busy to learn about "real" gardening.
How to Live in a Multi-Generational Household
The number of people living in multi-generational households has steadily increased over the last three decades, according to the Pew Research Center. As of 2008, 49 million Americans lived in households consisting of adult children living with their parents, grandchildren living with their grandparents or all three generations living under the same roof, up from 28 million in 1980.
Family Communication
Families live farther apart than ever. Several tech tools can help you keep in touch from afar. Here are some tips for staying in touch.
Planning an Ideal Neighborhood for Kids
An ideal neighborhood for children begins with including children in the planning process. This doesn't mean families, developers or planners put in an amusement park with ice cream stands on every block. It means professionals and adults take children's ideas seriously and pay attention to common concerns that both children and adults have.
Groups That Support Families
Even families have hard times, and need some form of help. Thankfully, there are groups of people and organizations that are willing to help. If you don't need the help, why not help these folks out by either donating time or money (or both)?
Making An Urban Family
When Beth Kander moved to Jackson in 2003, she hardly knew anyone. Kander, an author and playwright who has also written for the Jackson Free Press, was far from her family in the Midwest and her college friends in the Northeast.
I-55, Revisited
Better Than Ezra burst onto the national rock scene in 1995 with the hit single, "Good." Formed while its members attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge in 1988, Better Than Ezra has been a rock staple for more than 20 years. The band rolls into Jackson May 14 for a show at Fire.
Schoolhouse Rock
Many musicians here live an almost "Hannah Montana" lifestyle—going to school daily as a teacher, yet rocking the masses at night. I've been teaching 11 years in the Jackson metro area, and even my one-man band Clinton started out as a teacher.
Simple Suppers
I don't know if the sky has always been this blue, or if the long and unusually harsh winter this year has made me enjoy the sunshine that much more. But lately, I've felt very much like Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz" when she wakes up after the twister and finds that her life has gone from shades of gray to Technicolor in the blink of an eye.
A Rez-olution.
Every year about this time I start thinking about vacation. The only hang up is that I'm a working girl with vacation days, and they're limited. So I've begun negotiations. What use am I really when I spend the days dreaming of the sun and sand? But until I get the boss man to see things my way, I will compromise and spend my weekends at The Rez. So why don't you bring your blanket and join me? I'll bring the fashion magazines!
Thanks for Brooklyn
It seemed everyone knew one another, and always, always someone was looking out and watching over the kids.
KiOR Heats Up
Biofuels company KiOR has yet to produce any of its vaunted crude oil substitute in Mississippi, but the startup is making big moves on financing.
McGowan Non-Profit Foots Study Bill
Flowood Mayor Gary Rhoads says the Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District (aka the Levee Board) is working with a non-profit foundation backed by McGowan Working Partners for one reason: cash.